A habitually active environment is a feature of past times, and in stark contrast with that experienced by our children today. Consequently, twenty-first century physical education (PE) assumes a position of great responsibility. This is especially true in primary schools; a premise recently strongly supported by published evidence from the…

Child development for a cohort of urban Aboriginal children was assessed at three time points: 12 months, 3 years and 4.5 years. This paper reports developmental findings and explores the impact of child, family, home and community variables over time. Overall, child development at 4.5 years was significantly below the standardised mean. Female…

This study sought to investigate the level of knowledge of language constructs in a cohort of Australian teachers and to examine their self-rated ability and confidence in that knowledge. Seventy-eight teachers from schools across the Australian state of Victoria completed a questionnaire which included items from existing measures, as well as…

Policies of inclusion challenge the construct of readiness and require schools to prepare for the diversity of children as they transition to school. However, there is limited empirical evidence concerning how this challenge is met. This paper presents two Australian studies that investigate inclusive practices in the transition to school. Study 1…

Although teacher aides are often employed in schools to provide support for students with disabilities and special education needs, there is limited Australian research on their work and employer expectations. This article provides an analysis of advertisements for teacher aide positions, and compares the content of advertisements with role…

Increasingly, researchers, teacher educators and governmental agencies underline the need for early childhood professionals to be able to conduct and use relevant research in their practice. In contrast, early childhood teachers tend to draw exclusively on practical advice rather than research evidence to evaluate and develop their teaching. To…